The first session is about building rapport and understanding where your student is starting from. Tutors will assess your child's current understanding, identify specific areas of difficulty, and learn about their learning style and math goals. This foundation allows tutors to create a personalized plan that targets the exact skills your student needs to strengthen, whether that's fact fluency, problem-solving strategies, or conceptual understanding.

Showing work reveals your student's thinking process, which is crucial for identifying where misconceptions happen. When students write out their steps, they practice organizing their thoughts and can catch their own errors. Tutors use a student's work to pinpoint whether struggles are with computation, understanding the concept, or applying strategies—then they can target instruction exactly where it's needed. This builds problem-solving skills that go far beyond getting the right answer.

Varsity Tutors connects you with tutors who understand elementary math standards and can work with your child's specific curriculum, whether your school uses Common Core, Singapore Math, or another approach. Tutors are familiar with different textbooks and teaching methods, so they can reinforce what your student is learning in class while filling gaps in understanding. This alignment ensures tutoring complements classroom instruction rather than creating confusion.

Absolutely. Math anxiety often stems from repeated struggles or feeling rushed to find answers without understanding. Personalized tutoring creates a low-pressure environment where students can ask questions, make mistakes safely, and build confidence through small wins. When students experience success with a tutor who explains concepts clearly and celebrates progress, anxiety naturally decreases and they develop a more positive relationship with math.

Expert tutors use concrete examples, visual models, and guided discovery to help students recognize how different concepts relate. For instance, a tutor might show how skip counting connects to multiplication, or how arrays help visualize both multiplication and division. By making these connections explicit, students develop deeper understanding and can apply what they learn to new problems. This pattern recognition is what transforms math from isolated procedures into a coherent system.

The ideal frequency depends on your student's specific needs and goals. Some students benefit from weekly sessions to build foundational skills, while others might need twice-weekly sessions during particularly challenging units. Your tutor can recommend a schedule based on your child's progress and learning pace. Most students see meaningful improvement with consistent, regular sessions combined with practice between meetings.

Simply reach out to Varsity Tutors and share your student's math goals and challenges. You'll be matched with a tutor who has experience with elementary math and understands your child's needs. From there, you'll schedule your first session and begin working toward building your student's math confidence and skills. The process is straightforward—we handle the matching so you can focus on supporting your child's learning.